Saturday, 14 February 2015

The Crash & The Draw is the long-anticipated new full-length from Midwest sound exhibitionists, MINSK. Set to drop via Relapse Records this Spring, The Crash & The Draw follows the enigmatic collective's six-year hiatus and delivers eleven arresting movements that transcend far beyond the boundaries of post-metal, sludge and psychedelia.

Recorded almost exclusively in The Prairie State, The Crash & The Draw was captured by the band alongside Sanford Parker (Twilight, Voivod, Eyehategod, Yob etc.) at Earth Analog in Tolono, mixed by Parker and MINSK at Hypercube in Chicago and mastered by Collin Jordan (Eyehategod, Indian, Wovenhand, Voivod etc.) at The Boiler Room in Chicago with additional vocal tracking by Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City. Old Man Gloom, Floor etc.) at Antisleep Audio in Oakland, California and further tracking, editing, and mixing by Kevin Rendleman at Trash Rocket Audio and Aaron Austin at We Know Who You Are, both in Peoria. An instant contender for one of the most forward-thinking metal records of the year,each cascading movement is a crucial sonic passage through dark and light. At once crushing, hallucinatory and at times, spiritually illuminating, tracks ebb and flow with a pastoral elegance and tangible urgency. Only furthering the record's captivating allure, The Crash & The Draw is a thematic continuation of the group's long-standing attraction to alchemical and esoteric ideologies, with marked nods toward the thought and writings of perennial inspiration, Kahlil Gibran, and the espoused words of Hermes Trismegistus, the fabled author of the Corpus Hermeticum and other sacred texts and serves as a fitting audio soundscapade for those souls devoted to the manifestations of Neurosis, Rwake, Yob, Isis and the like.

Comments the band of their latest output: "We are so thrilled to be able to finally share this next chapter. Much time has passed. New lines have formed on faces and hands. And new faces have emerged. The spirit arose once again, and the call was answered, with every ounce of will, and care, and attention as was available. There is still much to be discovered. We thank you for your interest, for your attention. There is no currency as valuable."

Scattered between the sleepy city of Peoria and metropolis of Chicago and drawing inspiration from a remote Belarusian city that has been burned to the ground only to be rebuilt like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, MINSK has been cultivating sonic exploration and alchemical outpourings since 2002. Rooted in the post-metal landscape that brought forth visionaries like Neurosis and Isis, with their latest offering, The Crash & The Draw, MINSK step out of the shadows of the giants of their genre to create a psychedelic blend of melodic, trance-inducing heaviness.

MINSK's The Crash & The Draw will be released via Relapse Records in North America on April 7th, 2015, April 3rd, 2015 in Germany, Benelux and Finland and April 6th, 2015 in the UK and rest of the world and come available on CD, double LP and digitally. Preorder your copy today at THIS LOCATION. For digital orders, go HERE.

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks